Mark Cavendish has become only the second Briton to win a stage in all three
grand tours after the Manxman blew away his rivals in Lleida to win stage 12
of the Vuelta a España.

Cavendish claimed his first stage win in the Vuelta on Thursday after biding his time and suffering with the rest of the sprinters during a mountainous event.

Even Thursday’s stage from Andorra to Lleida included an early category-two climb but Cavendish is beginning to regain peak fitness as he heads toward the UCI Road World Championships in Australia in three weeks and he took that and other uncategorised climbs in his stride.

As he and his HTC-Columbia team-mate, Matt Goss, shredded the field in the final run-in, Cavendish became only the second British rider after Robert Millar to claim a stage win in all three grand tours – the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta.

Cavendish’s win meant he regained the lead in the points competition and can extend it in another flat stage on Friday. The prospect of joining Malcolm Elliott as the only British winner of points title in a grand tour is beginning to loom with Cavendish saying before the Tour that it was his intention to ride to the finish in Madrid.

“With 600 metres to go, I thought we had no chance, we seemed boxed and too far behind but Matt did a brilliant job,” Cavendish said.

"It's really special to win stages in all three major Tours, but there are always eight team-mates who get me into a position where I can win.

"[Team-mate] Lars Bak got in the break today, so we didn't have to work so hard. I wanted Matt [Goss] to get the win today because he made such a huge effort to get me into the right position. It didn't work out that way, but even so I'm really proud of what he did today. When I do succeed, it's on behalf of the team. We've a young squad here, and we're learning day-by-day and getting tighter and tighter in the finishes. It's going well."

Cavendish has now regained control of the points classification, which he leads with a nine point advantage. "I would like to try and win it outright, but my main objective is stage wins. Hopefully I'll get some more and the points jersey will work out as well."

Meanwhile Cavendish’s fellow Manxman and friend Jonny Bellis is a confirmed starter in the Tour of Britain which starts in Rochdale on Saturday, almost a year after a scooter accident in Italy left him fighting for his life. It will be Bellis’s first stage race since making a remarkable comeback.